Object oriented application frameworks like Zope are the future:
My company implemented our own solution using mod_perl and Oracle. (The application is about 300,000 lines of object oriented Perl, and no it doesn't look like line noise, programmers are thwacked soundly for writing bad code).
Perl object classes are declared for each database table within the application. Scripts parse the SQL schema and insert what 'data members' (columns) belong to each object and sets up a hash that contains all the deletion rules (when is a record safe_to_delete, etc.), and a description of the length of each table field, etc.
An XS backend (C code glued to perl) seralises and desiralises the object for each Apache request, once the object is ready to be written, the XS backend splits out the data and writes it into the table used by the object (using insert, delete, or update as appropriate).
The result? A wicked fast application server environment that is very close to a 'rapid application development environment'.
Example?
Let's say a programmer wants to create a new 'Company' object.
my $new_company = fqdbcn('Company')->new;
("fqdbcn" here means turn Company into a fully qualified database class name for the current application)
The programmer wants to set some fields and write the new object to the database:
$new_company->set(
name => 'ABC Company, Inc.'
active => 1,
accounting_id => 'ABC001', );
$new_company->write;
The programmer later wants to load the object back up to update the Company record since they're changing their name.
He has three choices (that come to mind) to load the object back in so he can update it:
choice 1 (by id): my $company = fqdbcn('Company')->load(id => whatever_the_id_was);
choice three (by name): my $company = fqdbcn('Company')->find(where => { name => 'ABC Company, Inc.' })->fetch;
He can then update it like so: $company->set(name => 'ABC Conglomo Co, Inc.'); $company->write;
What if the programmer wants to delete a company object he has?
$company->delete; $company->write;
The advantage of our homegrown system is that we can use the application as an object oriented system, or we can pull data using SQL for reporting using the rdbms (Oracle).
We're working on converting our framework to Postgre because $16,000 a year for Oracle is just way too freaking much for a 10 employee company (some would say too much for any company).
I could go on, but suffice it to say that things like Zope are where Applications are going. After working with our homegrown framework (and all of it's iterations) for the past 5 years or so I can say without a doubt that once you adopt an object based model for writing applications you will never want to go back.
Unfortunately, this game has one primary failing. It requires an online subscription.
Of course they should be able to afford to support Linux gaming when they get a monthly subscription from Linux users.
I want one time purchase games for Linux off the shelf.
I doubt I will ever pay for a game that requires a monthly subscription (again) after having several bad experiences and realising that some months I get a lot of time to play and some months I have no time to play at all.
1) Price vs. CRT tech, a high quality 19" CRT (18.0 viewable) is at least a few hundred dollars cheaper than a really nice 19" LCD
2) Non-native resolutions suck (I play a lot of older games that can't run at resolutions higher than 640x480 or 800x600, don't forget emulators like SNES9X, etc... look best at SNES native res to some people), and forgot about my old dos games (sniff)
But, these aren't community created mods. These are QA'd, approved by Atari/WoTC, made by contracted employees of Bioware. Yes, one of the authors of the modules are from the community, but they signed a contract with Bioware for this work.
Bioware is not just taking any joe schmoe module off the 'street' so to speak and releasing it commercially.
Bioware is not taking anything away from the thousands of free module already out there.
Bioware is not killing your dog, stealing your firstborn or anything else.
What they're doing is providing people exactly what they asked for in surveys given to the NWN Community: More Official Bioware content.
I think it's a great idea! And most users do too, Bioware surveyed a significant number of the NWN community and this is what people wanted. More Official Bioware content.
Additionally, the sale of these modules will serve as a revenue stream that Bioware can use to fund the live team to continue to improve NWN and release new content to the community. So ultimately, even if lots of people buy these modules, not only will Bioware make a profit, but the community will continue to receive fresh content (even if they don't buy the modules) and a great game will continue to be supported well.
So before you go raining on their parade, read a bit more of the details? Ok?
They originally said you could install the game and play singleplayer without 'activating'. But once you wanted to update the game or play mutiplayer you had to activate it via Steam.
So, if the gamemaster starts ignoring the community rules, then you have problems.[/i]
Gee, it's funny you should mention that. I say that about police officers all the time.
If police offers are 'the law' so to speak, yet they do not follow the edicts of the law, why am I required to do so?
Example:
I'm driving 35mph in a residential area (USA). I see a policeman with no lights on or anything traveling well in excess of 35mph barreling down the same street ahead of me.
Why should I have to drive 35mph or get a ticket when half of the police cars I see don't obey speed limits during normal driving?
I don't know why you're fighting over this, apparently there's a very good chance that the next version of the Unreal Engine will have a native version of UnrealED for every platform the games ship on.
I write just about everything under a 3-clause BSD license. Do you know why? Because when I write something and give it away, it's really free to do whatever you want with (except of course claim it's your own).
While some people think it's "rape", there are many of us who write code, that picked a BSD license because we want anybody to be able to use our code without restrictions other than claiming it's their own. So software can be a true gift without any "strings" attached. So it isn't "rape".
Just the opinion of a programmer who writes BSD-licensed software...
I think most people will find this update list a bit more informative than the story submitter gave:
- Improved support for NTFS formatted volumes - Improved reliability for user logins and mounting of home directories in a networked environment - Updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers - Improved Bluetooth compatibility for Apple Wireless Keyboard/Mouse and Bluetooth phones - Additional FireWire and USB device compatibility - Improved font management - Updated Mail and Image Capture applications - Improved compatibility for third party applications - Previous standalone security updates
Slashdot Mirror
Object oriented application frameworks like Zope are the future:
My company implemented our own solution using mod_perl and Oracle. (The application is about 300,000 lines of object oriented Perl, and no it doesn't look like line noise, programmers are thwacked soundly for writing bad code).
Perl object classes are declared for each database table within the application. Scripts parse the SQL schema and insert what 'data members' (columns) belong to each object and sets up a hash that contains all the deletion rules (when is a record safe_to_delete, etc.), and a description of the length of each table field, etc.
An XS backend (C code glued to perl) seralises and desiralises the object for each Apache request, once the object is ready to be written, the XS backend splits out the data and writes it into the table used by the object (using insert, delete, or update as appropriate).
The result? A wicked fast application server environment that is very close to a 'rapid application development environment'.
Example?
Let's say a programmer wants to create a new 'Company' object.
my $new_company = fqdbcn('Company')->new;
("fqdbcn" here means turn Company into a fully qualified database class name for the current application)
The programmer wants to set some fields and write the new object to the database:
$new_company->set(
name => 'ABC Company, Inc.'
active => 1,
accounting_id => 'ABC001',
);
$new_company->write;
The programmer later wants to load the object back up to update the Company record since they're changing their name.
He has three choices (that come to mind) to load the object back in so he can update it:
choice 1 (by id):
my $company = fqdbcn('Company')->load(id => whatever_the_id_was);
choice 2 (by accounting_id):
my $company = fqdbcn('Company')->find(where => { accounting_id => 'ABC001' })->fetch;
choice three (by name):
my $company = fqdbcn('Company')->find(where => { name => 'ABC Company, Inc.' })->fetch;
He can then update it like so:
$company->set(name => 'ABC Conglomo Co, Inc.');
$company->write;
What if the programmer wants to delete a company object he has?
$company->delete;
$company->write;
The advantage of our homegrown system is that we can use the application as an object oriented system, or we can pull data using SQL for reporting using the rdbms (Oracle).
We're working on converting our framework to Postgre because $16,000 a year for Oracle is just way too freaking much for a 10 employee company (some would say too much for any company).
I could go on, but suffice it to say that things like Zope are where Applications are going. After working with our homegrown framework (and all of it's iterations) for the past 5 years or so I can say without a doubt that once you adopt an object based model for writing applications you will never want to go back.
[i]Where's the magic? The translation to graphics on the fly for people with old browers?[/i]
That's part of what was in the article. The way they're doing it almost regardless of the browser they're using or how old the machine is.
It may be cheaper long term, but the short term has the biggest effect on me financially.
Unfortunately, this game has one primary failing. It requires an online subscription.
Of course they should be able to afford to support Linux gaming when they get a monthly subscription from Linux users.
I want one time purchase games for Linux off the shelf.
I doubt I will ever pay for a game that requires a monthly subscription (again) after having several bad experiences and realising that some months I get a lot of time to play and some months I have no time to play at all.
Biggest reasons I haven't switched?
1) Price vs. CRT tech, a high quality 19" CRT (18.0 viewable) is at least a few hundred dollars cheaper than a really nice 19" LCD
2) Non-native resolutions suck (I play a lot of older games that can't run at resolutions higher than 640x480 or 800x600, don't forget emulators like SNES9X, etc... look best at SNES native res to some people), and forgot about my old dos games (sniff)
Obviously you've never seen Cave Dwellers or Eeegah :)
I wonder how long it will take this technology to "jump the shark".
But, these aren't community created mods. These are QA'd, approved by Atari/WoTC, made by contracted employees of Bioware. Yes, one of the authors of the modules are from the community, but they signed a contract with Bioware for this work.
Bioware is not just taking any joe schmoe module off the 'street' so to speak and releasing it commercially.
Bioware is not taking anything away from the thousands of free module already out there.
Bioware is not killing your dog, stealing your firstborn or anything else.
What they're doing is providing people exactly what they asked for in surveys given to the NWN Community: More Official Bioware content.
I think it's a great idea! And most users do too, Bioware surveyed a significant number of the NWN community and this is what people wanted. More Official Bioware content.
Additionally, the sale of these modules will serve as a revenue stream that Bioware can use to fund the live team to continue to improve NWN and release new content to the community. So ultimately, even if lots of people buy these modules, not only will Bioware make a profit, but the community will continue to receive fresh content (even if they don't buy the modules) and a great game will continue to be supported well.
So before you go raining on their parade, read a bit more of the details? Ok?
They originally said you could install the game and play singleplayer without 'activating'. But once you wanted to update the game or play mutiplayer you had to activate it via Steam.
But the funniest thing has got to be the flash they have up on the Bard's Tale site.
:)
http://www.the-bards-tale.com/uk/
Try mousing over the woman's breast area several times, after the 6th or 7th time it launches a page on sexual harrasment
I just love how Valve changed what they originally said about this...
All hail Valve, our next Microsoft Product Activation-like overlord.
So, if the gamemaster starts ignoring the community rules, then you have problems.[/i] Gee, it's funny you should mention that. I say that about police officers all the time. If police offers are 'the law' so to speak, yet they do not follow the edicts of the law, why am I required to do so? Example: I'm driving 35mph in a residential area (USA). I see a policeman with no lights on or anything traveling well in excess of 35mph barreling down the same street ahead of me. Why should I have to drive 35mph or get a ticket when half of the police cars I see don't obey speed limits during normal driving?
It was Tursmo instead of Turismo.
Can you *PLEASE* check the spelling of your headlines? I mean geez....
And they wonder why more people don't subscribe to slashdot...
Easy, it doesn't support most of the CSS and DOM JS features that I need, or it supports them poorly.
That guy is NOT zerowing, his name is Timothee Besset. His nickname is TTimo.
The real question is did anyone find spock yet?
He's probably still wandering around somewhere in the canyons living caveman style...
At last check, they don't sell the Satellite Server software to their customers. They sell the Satellite Server *service*. Big difference.
Does RedHat "Open Source" everything they do? Why yes, actually. I'm not aware of any product they sell that isn't "Open Source".
$34.95 USD for a PDF? When I know I can get a real, physical book at the same price or cheaper? WTF?
I don't know why you're fighting over this, apparently there's a very good chance that the next version of the Unreal Engine will have a native version of UnrealED for every platform the games ship on.
"rape"...
I write just about everything under a 3-clause BSD license. Do you know why? Because when I write something and give it away, it's really free to do whatever you want with (except of course claim it's your own).
While some people think it's "rape", there are many of us who write code, that picked a BSD license because we want anybody to be able to use our code without restrictions other than claiming it's their own. So software can be a true gift without any "strings" attached. So it isn't "rape".
Just the opinion of a programmer who writes BSD-licensed software...
Am I the only one that read the title as: "Hot Wireless Meshing" Where's Bender when you need him?
I think most people will find this update list a bit more informative than the story submitter gave:
- Improved support for NTFS formatted volumes
- Improved reliability for user logins and mounting of home directories in a networked environment
- Updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
- Improved Bluetooth compatibility for Apple Wireless Keyboard/Mouse and Bluetooth phones
- Additional FireWire and USB device compatibility
- Improved font management
- Updated Mail and Image Capture applications
- Improved compatibility for third party applications
- Previous standalone security updates
Burns: Excellent! My secret plan to "reluctantly" license FairPlay DRM is coming along quite nicely, don't you think Smithers?
Smithers: But sir, won't we lose our exclusivity?
Burns: Smithers, you bumbling idiot. They may be able to license our DRM, but they'll pay, ooohh, yes, they'll pay...